All posts tagged swimming

Another year and another victory in the pool sees University of Nottingham (UoN) continue their amazing winning streak at Swimming Varsity. This competition historically has always been a one sided affair; not much changed on Wednesday as UoN beat Trent 138-80, winning all but one event at the sports center.

The only Trent victory came in the 100m women’s Breaststroke, with an impressive time of 1.16m.

The highlight of the competition was the Medley Skins event. In only its 3rd year, the event has become a massive hit with the spectators. The choice of stroke for each of the 8 rounds were picked random and with the last placed finisher in each round eliminated the event is a test of endurance and versatility. Alice Morgan (UoN) and Ian MacMillan (UoN) were the winners of the men and women’s event.

The standout competitors of the day were Ian MacMillan (UoN) in the 100m Butterfly, Chloe Robbins (UoN) in the Individual Medley/ Freestyle and Amy Root (Trent) in the Breaststroke.

Sam Jackson, President of the UoN Swim Team, spoke of his delight in the performance of the team, especially with their busy schedule competing in the BUCS finals.

Victory in the pool leaves the current scores of the Charity Varsity series as 4-2 to UoN.

If I was a betting man, and in the unlikely event a bookies were prepared to offer odds on a Varsity event, I'd have my money on Uni to win on Wednesday. Why? Because the University of Nottingham have never failed to win Varsity Swimming since the event's inception. Clearly being the only University in Nottingham to possess a swimming pool has its advantages!

Although not with the total domination as seen in previous years, the University Swimming Team were able to cement their 100% Varsity record with a 313-182 points victory at the University Pool. Credit must go to Trent for their best haul yet, particularly to the Men who recorded Trent’s first three clear-cut race wins in the event’s history. However, the strength of the Uni team ultimately shone through to score a convincing victory at the end of proceedings, and put the series score at 2-1.

Uni Women’s dominance shone through from the offset, with wins in the Individual Medley and Backstroke events and Alice Morgan taking first place in the later 50m and 100m Butterfly races. Bethan Davis and Emma Oliver were other notable mentions, picking up Uni victories in the Backstroke, while Jasmin Ballingall took first in the opening 100m Individual Medley with a time of 1:13.

The Men were not quite as convincing in the early stages, with Trent taking the Individual Medley and Butterfly races, issuing a real statement to their adversaries. Asked if they thought complacency could have been a factor in Trent’s initial triumphs against the Uni Men, NuSwim President Naomi Reynolds and General Secretary Natalie Steele were quick to play such an idea down.

With the scores poised at 1-1 in this year’s Varsity, Uni fans will be forgiven for their supreme confidence of retaking the series lead after a look at the calendar. Tomorrow at 1pm, Uni will take to the water and look to build on their unbeaten record at Swimming Varsity.

With guidance from veteran coach, Alex Thurston, the Uni team are eager to get into the water and assert their dominance. History suggests this should be a whitewash: Trent’s best finish is a tie for first place in last year’s men’s 100m backstroke. Year on year, Trent have improved, but they still go into the pool tomorrow as huge underdogs.

URN was fortunate enough to catch up with several members of the Uni team at their training session ahead of the big day, and managed to get their predictions for when Uni and Trent lock horns again.

Men’s Captain, Phil Noone:

Backstroke expert, Gerald Michael:

General Secretary and Treasurer, Natalie Steele:

Breaststroke specialist, Alex Diamond:

Make sure you get down to the University Pool ahead of the 1pm start. If you can’t make it, be sure to check out URN’s text updates from poolside throughout the day at urn1350.net: Your Number One Varsity Source

University of Nottingham managed to get their first point for the 2011 Varsity series, as they were convincing winners against Trent, with the final score Uni 379 – 225 Trent.

Historically the event has favoured University of Nottingham, possessing some of the leading British talent in the event both national and across Europe. Competitors such as the Olympic finalist Jess Sylvester and team captain Katie Ambridge are examples of the strength in depth Nottingham has, with both swimmers competing in the European championship qualifiers only a week away.

Uni went off to a flying start, with both the men’s and women winning the 100 Individual medley and respectively coming third place too. This would be the common theme of the afternoon, with Trent unable to win a single race outright. The podiums of each race where dominated by Uni, especially the Men’s 100m breaststroke, women’s 50m butterfly and freestyle.

However, the highlight of the day for Trent was in the 100m backstroke where uni’s Matt smith tied with Diggins from Trent in the most exciting encounter of the afternoon. This event highlighted the improvement of Trends swimming team from previous years and should act as an encouragement for the future. Nonetheless, the Uni domination was still clear to all, as Uni swept the other events.